Warriors to Host Lakers for Opening Night Ring Ceremony Game, per Report

To open the NBA season, two Western Conference superstars will play. The Athletic’s Shams Charania reports Warriors will host the Lakers on October 18 for a Stephen Curry-LeBron James matchup as Golden State raises their latest championship banner.

Neither James nor Curry are strangers to playing on the opening night slate, but this year will mark the first time the two will play each other in the season’s first game. The last three times the Warriors opened the season as defending champions they played the Pelicans, Rockets and Thunder.

Meanwhile, the last time James played against the defending champion on opening night was vs. Dallas on Christmas day in 2011 to begin the lockout-shortened season. Of course, James has played on opening night four times since then as the defending champion himself.

Golden State and Los Angeles are in the same division, meaning these two teams will meet four times total throughout the season. However, an opening night game has a chance to have the most hype of these regular season matches.

That is not the only primetime game to have leaked, as the Lakers will also reportedly play the Mavericks in Dallas on Christmas.

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